Geoffrey Cauley's production of The Wooden Prince was created for London Festival Ballet as the central work on a triple bill, staged by English National Opera and London Festival Ballet at the London Coliseum to celebrate the centenary of the birth of composer Bela Bartok. The ballet, which received five performances, was designed by Philip Prowse with lighting by David Mohr. It was first performed on 7 April 1981. The setting was essentially a white box and the colour in the production came from the costumes.

Bartok called The Wooden Prince a play for dancers and it concerns reality and illusion. A Prince who falls in love with a Princess but is hindered by a fairy, who creates an artificial wooden likeness of the real Prince to distract the Princess. Ultimately the lovers are united, having stripped away their finery. For the production Cauley and Prowse developed an austere Chinese-circus style of production as a a way of suggesting the larger implications of the parable.

The Princess's dress was made in appliqué silks and braids by Bonn and MacKenzie at the cost of £200. The headdress was created by Taylor Wilch. The role was created on Lucia Truglia, whose name appears in the costume and who is seen in production photographs taken in rehearsal, but it was actually danced by Jane Scott at all five performances.